Over the last two years, Joomla! has been working really hard to make it easier to update to the next Joomla version (for example, from 2.5 to 3.0).

Joomla has been able to do this through its smaller, more manageable releases and through its relatively new (since Joomla 1.6) one-click updater. The one-click upgrader is now quite mature and has proven itself to be very reliable.

However, a major improvement is coming soon. Joomla will soon provide a check to make sure your updates are always done safely and securely.

Why check before updating?

At the moment, Joomla does not do any checks to see if your site is ready to update. This is also true with other CMSs, but Joomla wants to take the lead on this.

Why is it a problem if no checks are done?

Simply said, when you update you could accidentally break your site. This could if your server environment, your extensions or your template are not compatible with the new version. In order to be sure that they are compatible, you have to manually go through each extension as well as through all the technical requirements for the next version. Many new users don't realize this and one-click to their own peril.

The new pre-update check

Wouldn't it be nice if Joomla had a pre-update check that checked for system compatibility, as well as extension compatibility all in one area before you upgrade?

Guess what. It's coming to a Joomla version near you. A team of Joomla enthusiasts got together and built a pre-upgrade check for the Joomla core and for custom extensions. We're also making it more flexible for custom extension developers to mark their extension compatibility and we hope to have it ready in time for Joomla 2.5.10.

Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for Joomla 2.5 users to go to Joomla 3, whenever they decide to make the transition. There's certainly no rush to update (as Joomla 2.5 will be supported through at least 2014), but just know that you'll have a pre-upgrade check available to you, should you need it.

All right, now for the exciting part, the preview. There's actually nothing secret about it, as the discussion and repository are both publicly available at https://groups.google.com/d/topic/joomla-dev-cms/eIGjGvSUZ3A/di and https://github.com/nicksavov/joomla-cms, respectively. So if you'd like to read up on it (forewarning: it's a very long discussion) or download it and play around with it, you're more than welcome to and even encouraged to do so. I'lll add some advanced instructions at the bottom of this page if you want to test it yourselves. For those that want a sneak peek, read on.